Chapter III.487487 Comp. The
Apology, cc. i. and ii.—The Great Offence in the Christians
Lies in Their Very Name. The Name Vindicated.

Since, therefore, you who are in other cases most
scrupulous and persevering in investigating charges of far less serious
import, relinquish your care in cases like ours, which are so horrible,
and of such surpassing sin that impiety is too mild a word for
them, by declining to hear confession, which should always be an
important process for those who conduct judicial proceedings; and
failing to make a full inquiry, which should be gone into by such as
sue for a condemnation, it becomes evident that the crime laid to our
charge consists not of any sinful conduct, but lies wholly in our
name. If, indeed,488488 Adeo si. any real crimes were
clearly adducible against us, their very names would condemn us, if
found applicable,489489 Si accommodarent. so that distinct
sentences would be pronounced against us in this wise: Let that
murderer, or that incestuous criminal, or whatever it be that we are
charged with, be led to execution, be crucified, or be thrown to the
beasts. Your sentences, however,490490 Porro.
import only that one has confessed himself a Christian. No name of a
crime stands against us, but only the crime of a name. Now this in very
deed is neither more nor less than491491 Hæc ratio est. the entire odium
which is felt against us. The name is the cause: some mysterious
force intensified by your ignorance assails it, so that you do not wish
to know for certain that which for certain you are sure you know
nothing of; and therefore, further, you do not believe things which are
not submitted to proof, and, lest they should be easily
refuted,492492 Reprobentur. you refuse to make
inquiry, so that the odious name is punished under the presumption of
(real) crimes. In order, therefore, that the issue may be withdrawn
from the offensive name, we are compelled to deny it; then upon our
denial we are acquitted, with an entire absolution493493 Impunitate.
for the past: we are no longer murderers, no longer incestuous, because
we have lost that name.494494 i.e., the name
“Christians.” But since this point
is dealt with in a place of its own,495495 By the “suo
loco,” Tertullian refers to The Apology. do you tell us
plainly why you are pursuing this name even to extirpation? What crime,
what offence, what fault is there in a name? For you are barred by the
rule496496 Præscribitur
vobis. which puts it out of your power to allege
crimes (of any man), which no legal action moots, no indictment
specifies, no sentence enumerates. In any case which is submitted to
the judge,497497 Præsidi. inquired into against
the defendant, responded to by him or denied, and cited from the bench,
I acknowledge a legal charge. Concerning, then, the merit of a
name, whatever offence names may be charged with, whatever impeachment
words may be amenable to, I for my part498498 Ego.
think, that not even a complaint is due to a word or a name, unless
indeed it has a barbarous sound, or smacks of ill-luck, or is immodest,
or is indecorous for the speaker, or unpleasant to the hearer.
These crimes in (mere) words and names are just like barbarous words
and phrases, which have their fault, and their solecism, and their
absurdity of figure. The name Christian, however, so far as its
meaning goes, bears the sense of anointing. Even when by a faulty
pronunciation you call us “Chrestians” (for you are not
certain about even the sound of this noted name), you in fact lisp out
the sense of pleasantness and goodness.499499Χρηστός means both
“pleasant” and “good;” and the heathen founded
this word with the sacred name Χριστός. You
are therefore vilifying500500 Detinetis. in harmless men even
the harmless name we bear, which is not inconvenient for the tongue,
nor harsh to the ear, nor injurious to a single being, nor rude for our
country, being a good Greek word, as many others also are, and pleasant
in sound and sense. Surely, surely,501501 Et utique. names are not
things which deserve punishment by the sword, or the cross, or the
beasts.